UCLA report shows most vulnerable Angelenos reject managed health program

Three in five of the poorest, sickest residents in Los Angeles County have rejected a managed health care program meant to improve their access to health services, according to a  policy brief  by the  UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. As a result, the county ’s opt-out rate for the program is the highest in California, pushing overall enrollment far lower than expected.The managed care program, called Cal MediConnect, was designed to integrate financing and delivery of medical, mental health and other health care services for 415,000 medically frail elderly or severely disabled young Californians who qualify for both Medicare and Medi-Cal benefits in the seven-county pilot program area. Eventually, 1.1 million Californians could be enrolled.The main goal of Cal MediConnect is to have one entity coordinate care for this high-need, high-cost group, which eliminates fragmentation of health services and subsequent gaps in care, according to the policy brief. The new program also provides extra benefits, such as unlimited transportation and more vision and dental care.However, as of July 1, just  19 percent of eligible people in L.A. County were enrolled — 38,020 people out of about 200,100. Although the California Department of Health Care Services in 2014 projected a enrollment rate of more than 60 percent in the seven participating counties in the state, the rate is less than half that at 28 percent, the brief reports.Factors that contributed to opt-outs in L.A...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news